Florence Easton

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Florence Easton as Lauretta in Giacomo Puccini 's Gianni Schicchi (photo dated December 14, 1918).

Florence Gertrude Easton (born October 25, 1882 in Middlesbrough , Yorkshire , † August 13, 1955 in New York City ) was an English opera singer (soprano).

Life

Easton came to Toronto with her family in 1888 and sang in the Parkdale Methodist Church choir , where her parents served as choirmaster and organist. After the mother's death, the family returned to England, and Easton attended the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1900 to 1901 . In 1902 she went to Paris and took lessons from Elliott Haslam . In the 1902–1903 season she made her debut in the company of the Moosy-Manners Opera . Here she met the tenor Francis Maclennan , whom she married in 1904.

With her husband, Eaton toured North America from 1905 to 1907 with the Savage English Grand opera . 1907 appeared at the opening of the Walker Theater in Winnipeg in Madama Butterfly . In 1907 Eaton became prima donna at the Court Opera in Berlin. She stayed here until 1913, when she was prima donna at the Hamburg State Opera (until 1915). Her husband was involved with her until 1915.

She went back to the USA with him in 1915 (but where they separated) and was at the Chicago Opera in 1916/17 .

In 1917 she sang Serpina in the North American premiere of Pergolesi's La serva padrona . In the same year she made her debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana at the Metropolitan Opera , where in the following twelve seasons she played leading roles and roles. a. in Carmen , La Gioconda , Tannhäuser , Tosca , Tristan and Isolde , Turandot and Der Rosenkavalier took over. During this time she also participated in several world premieres, such as Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi , Deems Taylor's The King's Henchman , Edward W. Naylor's The Angelus and Ernst Krenek's Jonny plays .

In the 1920s, Easton deepened her training as a dramatic soprano with the famous teacher Anna Schoen-René . In the 1930s she made frequent appearances at the Covent Garden Opera in London before moving to New York with her second husband in 1936. There she continued to perform as a singer and taught at the Juilliard School of Music from the late 1930s to 1943 . In December 1943 she gave her farewell concert in New York's Town Hall and then moved to Montreal with her husband. There she gave private singing lessons. In 1950 she returned to New York, where she also taught some students again. To international success it brought u. a. the tenor Arthur Carron , the soprano Nadine Conner and the baritone John Stratton .

In total, Eaton is said to have sung around 150 roles in her career. She also made numerous recordings for Aeolian-Vacalion (1918-1920), Brunswick (1921-1928), Edison (1928) and His Master's Voice (around 1930; including the Finale from Siegfried with Lauritz Melchior ), various from later years exist private recordings.

Web links

Commons : Florence Easton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files


personal data
SURNAME Easton, Florence
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Easton, Florence Gertrude (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Middlesbrough , Yorkshire
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1955
Place of death New York City